Warren County tax payers to pay $1.4M annually for ferry to private land

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — Following Monday’s hearing between the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the landowners of King’s Point Island, Warren County tax payers are now footing the bill to the tune of $4K per day to fund a ferry to King’s Point Island for 10 plaintiffs who own hunting and logging land on the island.

The hearing comes after a December 2025 ruling which required the Board to devise a plan which would allow convenient access to the island across the Yazoo Diversion Canal. The BOS responded with a plan that would allow a contracted ferry service to run 12 hours a day for six days a week. 

Six days because the canal, as part of the Mississippi River, is a U.S. waterway, it falls under U.S. Coast Guard regulations. These regulations require a ferry boat to be maintained and serviced at least once in a seven day period. 

Smith Towing, the current contracted ferry service providing service for Warren County, only has one vessel; therefore, the seventh day when the ferry will not be accessible is required by U.S. regulation. 

In Monday’s hearing, the 10 plaintiffs made it clear this was not satisfactory. The judge in the case ruled there needed to be a 24-hour per day service to the island. As a result, BOS Attorney Blake Teller said an amendment was added for the county to open bids for a second contracted ferry service to be available when Smith Towing was not in operation.

All of this comes with a price tag to the over 42,000 residents of Warren County. According to BOS President Dr. Kelle Barfield, in order to cover the $4K per day fee plus the cost of gas and oil, there will likely be a tax increase to fund the public transportation to the island, which holds no public lands. 

The landowners also own a private ferry service owned by Kings Point Ferry, LLC. According to multiple reports, including real estate listings, access to the private ferry is included when land on the island is purchased.

Annually, the cost to taxpayers will be more than $1.4M; yet, according to tax records from 2025, the county only collected a total of $60,418.97 in taxes on the properties- less than 10 percent of the annual cost of the ferry service. Because there are no homes or residences on the island, the properties do not generate larger sums of taxes. 

Despite the results of the hearing, the plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Gwin, stated there will potentially be more legal actions against the BOS. Gwin is accusing supervisors of “dereliction of duty.” 

This is possible due to a 2022 contract signed between Yahoo River Towing and the Board. In 2023, due to budgeting issues, the county reduced the operation of the ferry to 90 days. The budget simply did not allow for more days because of rising costs.

The landowners then filed a lawsuit against the county, citing loss of revenue from hunting lands and logging enterprises.

However, the history of the feud goes back to 1876. In that year, the Mississippi River unexpectedly changed course, leaving Vicksburg without a riverfront. The plan to restore water to the riverfront, by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, was to dig out the old riverfront and connect it with the Yazoo River. The project, called the Yazoo Diversion Canal, allowed water to flow back to the city front and then into the Mississippi River. It also created a water barrier for landowners of King’s Point. The solution was to ferry the owners across the canal to King’s Point.

For more than 120 years, the county has been responsible for ferrying landowners across the Diversion Canal. This is because the BOS at the time recorded in their minutes that they would provide access to the island, which at the time held homes and residences, in perpetuity. 

The current landowners believe the Board is still held to the original agreement. Every time the matter has gone before a judge over the years, the courts have sided in the landowners favor. A caveat of the case according to Dr. Barfield is that there was no original court order requiring the county to provide this service.

“We’ve asked repeatedly if there is a court ruling, show us,” said Dr. Barfield. “No one has been able to show us a court order from that time period.” 

According to Dr. Barfield, the situation has changed drastically over the last century, with a dramatic rise in cost and lack of homes on the island. 

BOS Attorney Blake Teller said he fully expects the matter to go to Mississippi’s Supreme Court.

“I’ll be interested in what they have to say,” said Teller.